Experienced territory manager Philip Meares, Canterbury, says there’s no time for downtime in today’s crop rotations, especially with the rise and rise of irrigation, and the current level of confidence in New Zealand’s high-performing arable industry.
Likewise there’s no room for cutting corners on early crop establishment, especially with weed control programmes, he says.
Meares works for Corteva Agriscience, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont, and expects another strong season for the company’s flagship arable herbicide brands Paradigm and Rexade GoDRI, not least because of rainy conditions over spring and early summer.
These led to multiple weed germinations which in turn meant some weeds presented more of a challenge than normal at harvest, and will cause a higher weed seed burden in the soil for many growers this coming season.
Paradigm (Groups B and O) continues to live up to its reputation as the post emergence weapon of choice for fumitory in wheat, barley and triticale as well as ryegrass.
“It also controls cleavers, volunteer brassicas, shepherds purse, chamomiles, mayweeds, cornbind and a wide range of other
broadleaf weeds, so it’s become extremely useful for many growers,” he adds.
“Crop safety is really good, and Paradigm is also a good mixing partner, which is a critical benefit for end users.”
Growers and contractors alike appreciate the user-friendly formulation and easy mixing is another popular attribute, Philip says.
With the proprietary active ingredient – Arylex Active (Group 0) and florasulam (Group B) – Paradigm offers a useful rotation option for herbicide resistance management, and has significantly altered typical herbicide programmes for both autumn and spring sown wheat and barley.
Meantime Rexade GoDRI (Groups B and O) is a one pass post emergence herbicide for wheat and triticale, which combines robust control of grass and broadleaf weeds with the flexibility of a wide application window and excellent crop safety.
“Extensive crop selectivity trials conducted in NZ in both irrigated and dryland situations determined complete crop safety. No loss of yield was reported at harvest in any trial.”
Key target species for Rexade are grasses and wild oats, while ‘nothing can hold a candle to it’ when it comes to controlling brome.
“Its broadleaf spectrum is quite significant, not just fumitory but also cleavers and chickweed.”
Rexade combines two unique active ingredients, pyroxsulam and Arylex Active, and provides an alternative mode of action to Group A grass weed herbicides, meaning it is also a useful resistance management tool.
For more detail, talk to your Corteva AgriScience territory sales manager.